How PointMate Calculates Loyalty Point Values

Every points value displayed in the PointMate app traces back to a documented data point. This article explains where those numbers come from, how they're calculated, and how they're kept current.

We're publishing this because PointMate earns no affiliate commissions from credit card issuers or loyalty programs. There's no commercial reason to inflate or deflate any program's valuation. Making the methodology public means anyone can scrutinise it.

How Qantas, Velocity and KrisFlyer values are calculated

For Qantas Frequent Flyer, Velocity Frequent Flyer and KrisFlyer, values come from real route sampling. Each sampled route records the points required for an award booking, the taxes and fees payable on that award, and the equivalent cash fare for the same itinerary on the same dates. The result for each route is a cents-per-point (cpp) value — the cash fare minus award taxes, divided by the points required, expressed in cents.

Cash fares are sourced from each airline's website. For Qantas, the benchmark is the Saver fare; for Velocity partner routes, the equivalent partner airline fare.

The sample covers 36 to 65 routes per program, spread across every redemption type the program offers — domestic economy and business, international economy through to first class, plus dynamic pricing options like Classic Plus and Points Plus Pay. Routes cover the full range of distances and regions, with domestic routes using the same city pairs across all three programs for like-for-like comparison.

How bank rewards and retail values are calculated

Bank rewards programs (CommBank, ANZ, Westpac, NAB, Amplify, HSBC, Bendigo, Bankwest) and retail programs (Flybuys, Everyday Rewards, David Jones, Myer One) are valued from two sources.

Direct redemptions — where the program offers gift cards, cashback, statement credits, or pay-with-points options, the cpp is calculated from the published redemption terms.

Transfer-derived redemptions — where the program offers a transfer to an airline partner (for example, ANZ Rewards to Velocity at a 2:1 ratio), the cpp is the destination airline's default rate divided by the transfer ratio.

Amex Membership Rewards and MyCard sit between these categories, with both direct redemptions (Pay with Points, gift cards) and airline transfer partners — Amex to Velocity at 2:1 and KrisFlyer at 2.5:1; MyCard to Velocity at 2:1.

What users see on the Value tab

On PointMate's Value tab, the free view shows a range bar anchored at three points: the lowest cpp across all redemption types, the default rate in the centre, and the highest cpp.

Premium users can select a specific redemption type. For airline programs, this switches to a box-and-whisker visualisation: the whiskers span the full sampled range, the box covers the middle 50% of values, and a line inside the box marks the median. For bank programs, selecting a transfer type chains into the destination airline's distribution — choosing "Transfer to Velocity" on an ANZ card shows the same range structure as selecting Velocity directly, adjusted for the transfer ratio.

Fixed-rate redemptions — where the rate doesn't vary, like gift cards or cashback — display a single value with no range bar.

Default rates

Each program has a single default rate — the number free users see on the Value tab, Portfolio, and Goals screens. For airline programs, it's the median of every route-level cpp data point pooled across all redemption types — not the median of type medians. This gives natural weight to common redemption types: Qantas Domestic Economy contributes 14 data points to the pool while International First contributes 2, reflecting how often Australian members actually redeem each way.

For bank and retail programs, the default rate is the median of direct and transfer-derived values combined. Including transfers matters — excluding them would understate programs whose main appeal is airline transfers. Because transfer values depend on airline rates, the calculation follows a strict order: airline defaults are locked first, then transfer types are resolved, then bank defaults are calculated from the combined pool.

The same data also powers PointMate's Flight tab, which works in reverse: it calculates the cpp of a specific flight from your inputs — points required, taxes, and cash fare — and compares it against the benchmark range for that redemption type.

Why these numbers may differ from other valuations

If you've seen other published loyalty point valuations, PointMate's numbers may differ. That usually comes down to method: PointMate uses percentile ranges built from the full route sample, and applies no subjective adjustment for factors like seat availability or ease of booking. The values are purely arithmetic.

How values are updated

Valuations are reviewed when an airline changes its award chart or redemption pricing, when a bank or retail program changes its transfer ratios or redemption terms, or on a quarterly cycle that checks for material shifts in cash fares on sampled routes. When a review is triggered, the affected routes or products are re-sampled, percentiles are recalculated, and the app's data is updated.

None of this asks you to take our word for it. The sample is documented, the method is arithmetic, and every number in the app has a receipt. The numbers are the numbers.